These blockbusting behemoths roll over everything at the box office with their eye-popping visuals, cute characters and heart-warming stories. Tales as old as time, they send out moral messages (depending on which decade you're living in) and educate on the validity of talking animals.

Not all these stories are as perfect as you may think, however.

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Over the years, Disney films have been found wanting in the department known as "water-tight plots" and have left fans worldwide asking questions.

Prepare to get woke...

1. The Little Mermaid

We know Ariel can't talk to handsome Prince Eric due to the deal she struck with undersea nasty Ursula (leaving her mermaid roots behind to become human).

She can't use her voice to explain just what's going on to the new love of her life (sidebar, don't a lot of Disney characters fall in love rather quickly?) but why, we wonder, doesn't she just WRITE IT DOWN?

We saw her earlier in the film sign the contract with Ursula, so we know she can write. Maybe it was in the small print.

Oh, and Ariel is 100% OK with Eric eating a crab, who was presumably a one-time friend of hers.

Those paying attention will have worked out that Beast, when he was a human Prince, was around the age of 11 when the witch put the curse on him. We learn that the last petal on the enchanted rose will fall on his 21st birthday, and they've been under the spell for about 10 years.

She must have been a bad, bad witch to do that – he even apologised for being spoiled, selfish and unkind (he was ELEVEN!) but, no, that wasn't good enough. CURSED!

And remember that portrait of him pre-Beast...?

That is not an 11-year-old boy.

You'd be forgiven for thinking it was actually a man in his early twenties. You can choose to believe, however, that they've spent the last 10 years not ageing due to the curse.

That might explain Chip.

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There's no way he's over 10 years old, even if he is a cup. And what age was Mrs Potts when she gave birth to him?

Not only that, we see that Chip has brothers and sisters. Yet, when the curse is lifted during the film's denouement, there's no human reunion for them – it's just Mrs Potts and Chip. Maybe she's just a forgetful mother.

Lucky old Cinders had a fairy godmother to spruce up her appearance and give her a rather exotic vehicle to get to the much-advertised and eagerly-awaited ball. Her wicked stepmother and stepsisters did their best to keep her at bay, but Cinderella got there in the end and hooked up with Prince Charming (no first name given, sadly).

At midnight, if you recall, all the items and paraphernalia used by her fairy godmother returned to their original form. Except the one piece of evidence need to identify the Prince's love (apart from, you know, actually recognising her) – a glass slipper.

Both remained intact after the clock struck midnight.

Of course, you could argue that they weren't actually anything beforehand and were actually a gift, but we're not going to.

4. Toy Story

Without getting all Columbo on everyone's asses, there's just one thing – what was a young boy in the mid-1990s doing with a 40-year-old toy?

We know these particular toys are worth a lot (with Japanese buyers at the ready willing to pay a fortune), so it's highly unlikely that Andy's mom purchased it for him.

A hand-me-down? 40 years is pushing it, if so. Woody doesn't look like he's had four decades of playing – his first and only injury is sustained when his arm rips off slightly in the first sequel (plus he's still got his hat!)

Woody never mentions any previous owners, despite the numerous times in the films when that information would have been most apposite, so what the hell? 40 years is a long time.

Some confused logic from this delightful slice of animation from 1992.

Although Aladdin had already been given the status of "Prince" by the Genie (in order to marry Jasmine because of, you know, instant love) everyone seems to have forgotten this at the end of the movie.

Does this mean Genie didn't actually make him a real Prince and just made him look like one? Or did Jafar's meddling undo all that?

Regardless, before Jasmine's dad decided to change his mind and the rules, Aladdin should just have given the lamp to the love of his life and then she could have wished him to be a Prince (and also get two bonus extra wishes).

But why would anyone want to empower a female Disney character pre-'00s?

6. 101 Dalmatians

Why on Earth would anyone want to own over a hundred dogs? Despite the space and practicalities involved, it would cost well over £100,000 to keep them.

But that's precisely what struggling songwriter Roger and his new wife Anita want to do. Seventeen just weren't enough in their London pad. We get that they want to save the puppies from Cruella De Vil (who wants their fashionable fur for coats), but we don't think anyone would grumble if they let them go off to equally-loving homes.

The money from Roger's 'Cruella De Vil' song allows them to buy a house in the country and keep the dogs but, even still, that's a lot of dog muck to deal with and cash to fork out.